London becomes party capital

London became the party capital of the world yesterday with cheering Britons hanging out the bunting in streets and squares from Bromley to Barnet.Crowds in fancy dress joined fire-eaters, stilt walkers, musicians and dancers to create a giant carnival across pubs, playgrounds and backyards.An astonishing 2,000 open-air parties were held in the capital out of some 5,000 nationwide, not to mention thousands of unofficial gatherings.Tens of thousands, including tourists from across the world, packed into Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park to watch on giant screens. Those who could not make it to the swinging city broke out the champagne in their own towns and villages, with big crowds at open-air screenings in almost every city centre.In Battersea High Street an estimated 5,000 people gathered to create a sea of Union Jacks, watched by television crews from Australia and America.“It’s the kind of day you remember where you were for the rest of your life,” said Sara, 26, who’d come out with her children, Henry, six, and Camille, four, and husband, Jack, resplendent in a Union Jack tie.Valeria Ruzzon, 38, who owns a vintage furniture shop, rose at 5am to put up balloons and a 35-metre trestle table. “I don’t know if we’re the really sad ones or the really cool ones for doing this,” she laughed, handing out red, white and blue Wills and Kate “I do” tea towels.“You wouldn’t think that irreverent Battersea would be into royal celebrations, but actually everybody is ‘game on!’”Alanna Lauder, the half-Jamaican, half-Irish co-owner of the Bellevue Pub, said: “This is our fourth street party in 18 months, but it’s shaping up to be our biggest and best.”In Windsor Road, Teddington, part of royalist borough Richmond-upon-Thames, 100 residents  - from an eight-month-old baby to a 94-year-old grandmother - came out to barbecue and play “pin the veil on Kate”.Emma Hinde, 38, arranged the party “because we’re Windsor Road and because I fondly remember going to a Silver Jubilee street party as a child”.She had an extra reason to celebrate. “Miraculously my four-year-old son Jack has just been given the all-clear after a series of tough operations for a tumour, and so he thinks, bless him, that our street party is all for him!”A brass band opened celebrations in Downing Street where Prime Minister David Cameron invited more than 100 guests to eat cup cakes baked by wife Samantha.Despite grey skies and a chill breeze, the crowds in Hyde Park were in a party mood from the start. Picnicking groups brought their own bunting and a dazzling array of costumes and headgear. One group of young men wore T-shirts bearing the legend “I love Willie”.Wearing a Beefeater-style outfit, Lydia Fry, 28, from Surrey said: “He is the first royal that my generation can identify with. That makes it a real occasion for us.”Her friend Emma Clough, also 28, from Clapham, wearing a costume based on a “royal guards uniform” added: “We have grown up with him — at least on TV.”In Trafalgar Square, drag queens Dotty and Kevina, who call themselves the Big Wigs, dressed up as “patriotic queens” in Union Jack dresses and huge red wigs. Richmond-upon-Thames boasted 85 parties, the highest “official tally”, followed by Wandsworth on 79 and Newham on 67. Residents of Kate Middleton’s home village of Bucklebury, Berkshire, gathered early for a church service and games. Local priest Julian Gadsby, said: “This is a very exciting time for this whole community.”Anglesey, where the couple will live, was hosting a party for thousands and a fly-past by William’s RAF colleagues. About 2,000 gathered in St Andrews, Scotland, where the pair went to university and fell in love, for a wedding breakfast to raise money for charity.Celebrations began at 8am in St Salvator’s Quadrangle at the heart of the old university, with large monitors dotted around the quadrangle.John Montgomery, 44, said: “I think St Andrews feels responsible for all of this! The atmosphere’s fantastic here.”An estimated 2bn people watched on TV when William and Kate exchanged vows at Westminster Abbey, and from Sydney to Washington revellers toasted the royal couple.Hundreds of women in their formal best complete with elegant hats, and a handful of less excited men, gathered before dawn yesterday at Washington’s Ritz Carlton ballroom to revel in the royal spectacle.“It’s such a wonderful fairytale, it’s spectacular!” exclaimed Jan Boswell under a wide blue-frilled brim as Kate Middleton began her walk down the aisle at Westminster Abbey. On the west coast, in Los Angeles, the home to the Hollywood stars, the royal glamour also shined strong. “We have movie stars, but they’re not as good,” said Paula Haifley, 30, as she arrived at the Cat and Fiddle British-style pub on Sunset Boulevard.Decked out with Union Jack flags and cut-out Kate and Wills models at the entrance, some 300 royal party-goers packed into the bar for the all-night bash to watch the wedding service that started at 3am in Los Angeles.“We came to celebrate. It gave us the opportunity to dress like girls, and celebrate the pomp and circumstance that we don’t necessarily get over here,” said Katie Christiansen, 24. There were celebrations around Europe too. The British embassy in Brussels threw an austerity-based royal wedding reception with food and drink laid on by sponsors. Ambassador Jonathan Brenton told some 400 guests the British tradition was to bring something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue to a marriage. “Here we are in a time of austerity in the UK and we have had to borrow an enormous amount—so thanks to our sponsors,” he said, listing backers.In Turkey, hundreds of Britons settled in front of screens at pubs in a tiny alley in Didim, on the Aegean coast, to witness the historic occasion around a typically British buffet: sausage skewers, cheese and pineapple, and jelly.